Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach lived in a time of change. The style of the
baroque era gradually gave way to a style which was less regulated, and
which emphasized the importance of personal emotions. At the same time
new forms gained ascendancy. The trio sonata was one of the genres most
typical of the baroque era, and was largely established by Arcangelo Corelli.
With the baroque style the trio sonata became more or less obsolete. Composers
started to write more and more chamber music for obbligato keyboard instrument
- first the harpsichord, then the fortepiano - and a melody instrument,
in particular the violin and the transverse flute. Sometimes composers
reworked trio sonatas from the early stages of their career into sonatas
for keyboard and a melody instrument. Specimens can be found in the oeuvre
of Johann Gottlieb Graun and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. The latter composed
several trio sonatas under the guidance of his father. He revised most
of them later, although he sometimes kept the texture of the trio sonata.

Les Ambassadeurs play a selection from the large corpus of chamber music
in Bach's oeuvre. They play trio sonatas, one sonata for flute
and basso continuo and one sonata for obbligato keyboard and violin. This
programme attests to the stylistic changes in his time. The scoring reveals
another significant feature: the growth in popularity of the transverse
flute. That was not a new development: Bach's father Johann Sebastian
already often gave the flute a prominent role and composed a number of
sonatas for it. However, in Emanuel's days the flute became one
of the most beloved instruments of the bourgeoisie, and this explains
why it figures prominently in chamber music written for amateurs. Composers
took this into account as Bach wrote in his autobiography of 1773: "Since
I have had to compose most of my works for specific individuals and for
the public, I have always been more restrained in them than in the few
pieces that I have written merely for myself". Even so, in many of
his works for amateurs his very personal style shines through. This is
expressed by Johann Friedrich Reichardt who stated in 1771 that "[we]
have but one Bach, whose perfectly original style is his alone".

His trio sonatas testify to that. Polyphony - one of the features of the
baroque trio sonata - is almost completely absent. The style of the Empfindsamkeit
is present which comes to the fore in the contrasts between the movements
of a sonata. They show also Bach's adventures in the realm of harmony.
The fact that these pieces were intended for amateurs doesn't mean
they are devoid of technical brilliance. One should not underestimate
the technical skills of the amateurs of those days.

The performances here are outstanding in every way. I can't remember
having heard this repertoire in more sensitive and expressive interpretations.
That is due to the skills of the players but could also be the result
of the choice of pitch. Kossenko and his colleagues decided to adopt a
low pitch of a=392 Hz which, as he states in the liner-notes, was common
in Berlin at the time. This comes at the cost of brilliance in sound,
but that is more than compensated for by a greater sensibility. I am especially
impressed by the fine dynamic nuances Kossenko includes in his playing.
The Sonata in B flat for keyboard and violin is also nicely played
but I felt that the balance was less than ideal here. The harpsichord
could have had a bit more presence.

The recording of the trio sonatas is new, but Alpha has decided to include
in this production two older recordings of the complete flute concertos.
Even if this set were to be offered to a reduced price - which I don't
know - this is bad news for those who have already purchased the concerto
recordings when they were released. Those who did not, have reason to
be happy but unfortunately they are poorly served in that the booklet
includes only liner-notes for the trio sonatas. It omits the notes for
the original concerto recordings. I can't think of any excuse for
that.

That said, there is every reason to add this music to your collection.
Not only are these some of Bach's most brilliant and original pieces
for a larger scoring - flute, strings and bc - but this set also includes
a concerto which was only discovered as the archive of the Berlin Singakademie
was sorted out. It is the Concerto in D (Wq 13) which is the
earliest of Bach's flute concertos. It was not completely unknown:
the Wq number indicates that it was catalogued among the keyboard concertos.
That is not surprising: all of Bach's flute concertos have also
been preserved as keyboard concertos. In almost every case the keyboard
versions are transcriptions which Bach made for his own use. Only the
Concerto in G (Wq 169) was probably written first for keyboard
and later adapted for the flute. Three of the flute concertos have also
been preserved with a solo part for cello.

The flute concertos show a clear stylistic change. The Concerto in
D just mentioned is the most 'conventional', although
the slow movement is quite expressive. The Concerto in a minor (Wq
166) is very different. In the opening movement one gets the impression
that the flute and the strings are on different wavelengths. Time and
again the lyricism of the flute part is roughly interrupted by the interventions
of the strings. Here and in other movements ideas seem to be cut off before
they have been brought to an end. This lends Bach's music an emphatically
nervous quality which is very much a feature of his style.

That style has been captured brilliantly by Alexis Kossenko, this time
playing with Arte dei Suonatori, one of the best in the business. Its
characteristic energetic playing is perfectly appropriate in the fast
movements. However, the lyrical parts fare just as well: the strings play
with warmth and intensity which suits the expression in the slow movements.

This set is definitely one of the best productions of music by Carl Philipp
Emanuel Bach to have been released recently. It is a worthy tribute to
a great composer who had a lasting influence on the course of music history.